Executive Committee
Co conveners

Rossaphorn Kittiyawamarn

Dr. Rossaphorn is a board certified Dermatology from Siriraj hospital in 2011 and preventive medicine in 2022. She is currently chief of Bangrak STIs Center at Bureau of AIDS and STIs, Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. She has an interest in sexually transmitted infections and has been involved in teaching STIs toresidents, physicians from Thailand and others countries including international STIs courses. She participated on WHO consolidated guideline on STI prevention and care in 2023 and expert panel for STIs guidelines in Thailand

Nittaya Phanuphak 

Executive Director at the Institute of HIV Research and Innovation (IHRI)

Nittaya Phanuphak is Executive Director at the Institute of HIV Research and Innovation (IHRI) in Bangkok, Thailand. She has deep interest in Key Population-Led Health Services (KPLHS) which empower lay providers who are members of key population communities to perform HIV/STI testing and dispense PrEP/PEP, ART and STI treatment to their peers


Executive Committee

Angela Kelly-Hanku

Kirby Institute

Angela has a background in social science and public health, and has been a long-term collaborator with the Kirby Institute. Prior to joining the Kirby Institute, Angela spent 10 years with UNSW first at the former National Centre in HIV Social Research followed by the School of Public Health and Community Medicine. During this time she has also held a joint appointment with the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research (IMR). Angela leads a large multidisciplinary unit at the IMR, working on projects in sexual health, reproductive health, HIV, violence, gender and sexuality and TB.





Susan Matthews

Co-Director, Flinders University International Centre for Point-of-Care Testing (POCT)

Susan is Co-Director, Flinders University International Centre for Point-of-Care Testing (POCT), managing acute, chronic and infectious POCT networks. Susan’s research focuses on POCT training and quality management. Susan contributes to the RAPID Centre for Research Excellence (Kirby Institute), World Health Organization Collaborating Centre and the World Organisation of Family Doctors. 

Jason Grebely

Head of the Hepatitis C and Drug Use Group in the Viral Hepatitis Clinical Research Program at the Kirby Institute, UNSW, NSW, Australia

Jason leads a research group undertaking research to improve the health of people who use drugs, with a specific focus on hepatitis C infection. His research includes the evaluation of novel strategies (including diagnostic testing) and models of care to enhance linkage to testing and treatment for hepatitis C infection, clinical trials and cohort studies evaluating hepatitis C treatment and reinfection among people who inject drugs, and clinical trials to evaluate hepatitis C treatment as prevention. His research group conducts research which engages with affected communities, practitioners, policy makers, and other stakeholders to impact practice and policy. 

Jessica Michaels

Deputy CEO at ASHM Health

Jessica Michaels is the Deputy CEO at ASHM. Jessicas work at ASHM includes overseeing the implementation of HIV, sexual health, hepatitis C and hepatitis B workforce development, capacity building, resources, strategies and policies across Australia.  Jessica has worked in the BBV and sexual health sector for over 15 years, managing a variety of government and non-government education, clinical and health promotion programs in Australia, South Africa, the UK, Papua New Guinea and Singapore. 

Lise Lafferty

Senior Research Fellow at UNSW Sydney

Dr Lise Lafferty is a Senior Research Fellow at UNSW Sydney with positions at the Centre for Social Research in Health and The Kirby Institute. She is a qualitative social health researcher with a focus on infectious diseases in priority populations. 

Michelle O'Connor

Director of the Global Division at ASHM Health

Dr Michelle O’Connor is the Director of ASHM’s Global Division. Michelle holds a PhD in adolescent sexual and reproductive well-being from the University of New South Wales, A Masters Degree in International Public Health from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor with Honours in Psychology from Warwick University (UK). Michelle has close to 20 years of experience working in international development and health for a variety of organisations including not-for-profits, government, the United Nations and academic institutions. Her strengths and experience lie in executive management and strategy, program management, research and strategic information and technical expertise in sexual and reproductive health and BBVs. Michelle has lived and worked in the UK, Solomon Islands and Fiji. 

Tanya Applegate 

Senior Lecturer and lead of the Diagnostic Innovations Group within Surveillance Evaluation and Research Program at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney. Scientific Manager of the RAPID Point of Care Research Consortium for accelerating the scale up of point of care testing for infectious disease in the Asia Pacific, and a Co-Director of an ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub to combat antimicrobial resistance. 

Tanya has over 25 years of laboratory and translational research experience within regulatory, hospital, industry and academic environments and is driven by a passion to provide equitable access to health care through simplified diagnostics. Her research focuses on working with stakeholders across industries to accelerate the development, evaluation and implementation of novel infectious disease diagnostics tests for people who are marginalised or living in remote or resource limited settings. 

 

Rebecca Guy

Professor in Epidemiology at the Kirby Institute for infection and immunity in society, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW, NSW, Australia

Rebecca Guy is the Theme Director of Public Health and a Professor in Epidemiology at the Kirby Institute, UNSW. Her research focuses on reducing the impact of infectious diseases in vulnerable populations, through implementation and evaluation of point-of-care testing and self-testing programs. Her research also focuses on using diagnostics to improve antibiotic stewardship.